SCOTUS Overturns Federal Ban on Sports Gambling
 

https://www.si.com/college-basketbal...-supreme-court

So each state (and not just Nevada) can now institute sports gambling if it wishes.

The writing was on the wall with this.

Buzz has it that some states have the bills already drafted and will be able to pass them in a matter of weeks.

Fun times to be alive.

Sadly for me, my guess is that North Carolina will decide to do some stupid half-measure and allow "expanded DFS" or something like that instead of just letting folks log on and place normal sports wagers.

I'd be super worried right now if I were an offshore casino or a small time bookie.

I don't think it will change things as much as people think. Bookies float you money not casinos. Also it's taken Nevada a long time to get to where we are and I'd bet they aren't sharing secrets with other states.

Looking at the waves of people who hit the Delaware casinos to place legal bets on football (terribly structured against the bettor), I think this is a big deal. There's a market, and the swath of people who don't want to mess with the underground to do it is substantial.

I wonder if the morality police will come for this. Will the evangelical right decry the legality of the vice for all? Thirty years ago, churches would have been very up in arms about something like this. Hell, even legalizing gambling at all was a huge religious marker against. Now though? Will it be strongly opposed in red states like KY, where I live? Will they push legislation that bans it outright, under the guise of morality of course? And if they don't, does the hypocrisy show brighter?

So i just wonder how bad you'd have to make the odds to get equal wagering on a steelers game at a pittsburgh casino(or Packers/Greenbay, etc etc)? I would assume some significant value will be derived from betting against the home team.

A lot of lotteries were initially decried by religious institutions. The state governments outflanked them by designating the proceeds go to things like college scholarships. They may decide to do the same thing with sports gambling.

Put me in the "this will be a sea change" camp. There's too much money to be made for most states to not jump on the bandwagon.

The two big impediments would be morality and the sports leagues themselves, but neither seems like they are going to stand in the way.

Gambling just isn't seen as the vice that it used to be, so I see only token resistance from the morality players.

And the (professional) sports leagues have taken positions ranging from neutral to eager. And all of them realize that this will be a way to get and keep eyeballs in a fractured entertainment universe. So they will be on board as long as they get a say in how it's done.

I do think that American culture has a lot invested in the myth of big time college athletics as "amateur," so I do see the future of legal college sports betting as much more up in the air than the pro leagues.

I *am* worried about how this will affect things here long-term, though.

The big question, I guess, is how many trips to Vegas happen only because of sports bets.

There are, I am sure, some number of folks who go to place their preseason props who then make a weekend of it who might end up not coming if they can just do that from their laptops in Los Angeles.

But Vegas is fun. And I figure for a lot of people, the sports betting is an excuse to go, but they can replace that excuse with any number of others.

Casinos profited over a billion in march with only 43 million coming from sportsbooks. Until they get rid of penny slots, I won't be worried.

If your state has mega-bucks or those gas station scratch cards, I doubt it. (something not found in Nevada)

You might be surprised, though I would guess that dollars would ultimately win out. There were some interesting trade offs when the internet gaming act was passed, with people pointing out the seeming hypocrisy of Florida and Kentucky lawmakers in particular who carved out specific riders for horse tracks. Which is clearly higher on the moral pecking order than betting on other sports.

Well, they wear civilized hats at tracks.

I think it'll be good for Vegas. Sportsbooks are small percent of their income and this just gets people into betting more. Especially if the leagues are smart enough to embrace it.

I don't know much about sports gambling and never had a big interest in its legalization either way. However, the idea of some politicians in Florida rejecting it due to it does not reflect the "innocence of the state" is LOL funny.

I have been a little skeptical about how much this would increase gambling on sports nationwide, but some of the Las Vegas Golden Knights data is making me change my tune.

In an average game this season, bettors placed 15x more bets on the Knights than on their opponent, regardless of spread. The Knights accounted for 30% of the total NHL "handle" (total dollars bet), more than 3x any team in any other league (the Pats were about 8% of the total NFL handle).

Should just say Disney and one of the Indian tribes pay our campaigns a ton of money to keep it illegal.

NHL handle is so poor though. It's not even put in it's own category by the gaming board as it's found in other. Last month's figures for the sports books in the state.

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NFL will be the beast with NBA a close 2nd nationally. MLB a distant 3rd and then NHL well below that. I think the thing that people forget is that they won't float you money like a bookie and it won't stop illegal gambling. When limits are placed on you in Vegas it's too easy to find a bookie who will take your action.

I think this will be a real threat to daily fantasy but revive fantasy football somehow.

Today the DoJ released an opinion that all online gambling is illegal. It will certainly be challenged in court, but Adelson is getting his money's worth. I wonder if the Feds will raid any of the NJ sites.

Those states rights folks seem to get awfully quiet sometimes.

Interesting. Wonder if this will make the Powerball and Mega Millions illegal. They are certainly gambling that crosses state lines.

I'm sure that they will get exemptions from the ban, but that means getting Congress to do something.